I'm sure smiling politely will help when Wade is being sent to the line for the 438th time.

I don't necessarily think the players themselves should be trying to force the change because America at large hates yet loves them at the same time, but Billy Hunter, Coaches, GMs, the press, and other entities should force the issue.

Bottomline with Sheed and Rip on the team, we have two players in the top 5 in technical fouls. With two other whiners in Billups and Tay on the team some refs are quick to blow a whistle on a ticky tack foul or an emotional reaction of one of these guys.

If the players would play through it and concentrate on the game at hand instead of still thinking about it 2 or 3 plays later, Flip wouldn't have to yank them to calm them down and we miss their production. Rip is notorious for commiting a bonehead play 2 or 3 minutes later because he is still frustrated over some play 5 minutes ago...

Need to know how many games were actually lost due to technical and the oppsing teams FT's I can guess and say no more than two. But there are no throwaway games in the playoffs, these guys need tp play smart and know that them being there everygame is more important then having grudge about a call that won't get over turned and suspended for it.

That's what I'm saying. The refs guess a lot. If they know in the back of their mind that there will be hell to pay if they guess wrong against Sheed, then maybe they'll guess the other way on the margin.

Wouldn't it be nice if the refs are penalized after calling 10 bad calls. They should have a ref review process, if the head ref reviews questionable calls (anything from a wrong defensive 3 second to a hand check), if the replay shows that the ref blew it, after 10 of these, the ref needs to be suspended.

This would alleviate a lot of the personal stuff with the refs against players and/or teams.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I feel that, considering the speed of the game, most of the refs do a pretty good job. I'm not saying there aren't bad calls, or that the refs don't make mistakes, but I believe overall, the officiating is pretty good in the NBA.

The exception is the number of free throws taken by Dwyane Wade. If there isn't a bias toward Mr. Wade, then Stern and Company need to make a rule change. Watching Kobe score 50 is exciting. Watching Wade score 35 with 25 free throws is really, really boring.

Over the last 2 years, Stern has added the phrase "ball don't lie" to his ref's list of words that can't be uttered on an NBA basketball court. The original list was based on George Carlin's list of the 7 words you can't say on TV, but Stern amended it for obvious reasons.

It really is curious how Sheed usually laughs and his intensity level usually goes up after he gets T'd...he's able to channel his anger in a calm "I'll show you" way. But Rip, as was said before, gets genuinely PISSED and can't laugh it off like Sheed does. Rip should get yanked every time he gets T'd just to cool him off, until he learns Sheed's technique.

Sheed usually gets T'd for mocking the refs in a joking manner. You rarely see him upset and actually get in a ref's face...you rarely see him get in another player's face either. He may be the most like-ably humorous 'menace to society' the NBA has ever seen...I think that gets under Stern's skin for some reason.

Over the last 2 years, Stern has added the phrase "ball don't lie" to his ref's list of words that can't be uttered on an NBA basketball court. The original list was based on George Carlin's list of the 7 words you can't say on TV, but Stern amended it for obvious reasons.

It really is curious how Sheed usually laughs and his intensity level usually goes up after he gets T'd...he's able to channel his anger in a calm "I'll show you" way. But Rip, as was said before, gets genuinely PISSED and can't laugh it off like Sheed does. Rip should get yanked every time he gets T'd just to cool him off, until he learns Sheed's technique.

Sheed usually gets T'd for mocking the refs in a joking manner. You rarely see him upset and actually get in a ref's face...you rarely see him get in another player's face either. He may be the most like-ably humorous 'menace to society' the NBA has ever seen...I think that gets under Stern's skin for some reason.

Rip really does seem like he's turned into a whiner.

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Yeah Rip does not have funny bone in is body. You see CB, Dice, Hunter and Sheed laughing off a foul, Rip walks away pissed off you you said and then gets the tech..

The two games I went to, Rip threw alot of stuff at Arnie. Mask, headband, towel... Arnie catches pretty well.

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The Rip we are seeing of late is not the Rip I remember. He used to be one of the cooler heads on the team. Now he's getting T'd regularly, throwing stuff, missing numerous FT's, whining, and generally not looking like he's having fun out there anymore. In some ways, to me, he seems a lot like Ben did last year.

The Rip we are seeing of late is not the Rip I remember. He used to be one of the cooler heads on the team. Now he's getting T'd regularly, throwing stuff, missing numerous FT's, whining, and generally not looking like he's having fun out there anymore. In some ways, to me, he seems a lot like Ben did last year.

Draw your own conclusions.

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Another similarity is that they both seemed to move away from their games. Where is Rip's midrange shot off the screens?